Who is Tyler Webb? First person charged with encouraging self-harm is sentenced

Tyler Webb, a 23-year-old man from Loughborough, Leicestershire, has been sentenced after repeatedly encouraging a vulnerable woman he met online to harm herself. Webb’s case is the first in the UK where someone was charged under section 184 of the Online Safety Act 2023 for encouraging serious self-harm online.

Webb connected with the woman on a social media forum where mental health was being discussed. He then moved their conversation to the Telegram messaging app, where he persistently urged her to injure herself.

The court heard that Webb pressured the woman to harm herself while on a video call on July 2, 2024, wanting to be involved. When she refused, he threatened to cut off contact. The woman reported the situation to police the next day. Webb was arrested on July 10.

At Leicester Crown Court, Webb admitted encouraging suicide and one count of encouraging or assisting serious self-harm in May 2025. He received a hybrid sentence of nine years and four months—partly detained in a mental health facility and, if deemed fit, the remainder in prison.

The victim’s impact statement described Webb’s actions as “calculated psychological violence.” She said, “He tried to harm me, not with his hands, but with his words,” and called him “cruel by choice” with no remorse.

The Crown Prosecution Service called the case a “watershed prosecution” and said Webb’s was the first charge under the new law, though other cases have since been prosecuted under the same offence.